Patron Gods
by crazypandagirl
Summary: When Odin sent Thor to Earth, he didn't have perfect control over the unfamiliar Dark Magic he was using, returning Aida to her original world at long last, quickly followed by Pitch, Eclipse, and Fury. They discover a certain truth of just how long Loki has been subjected to the Mind Stone, find Fire's father, and dragons help with the Thanos problem. Prequel to Fire and Fury


Fire POV

I grin over my shoulder at Fury and Pitch, leaning forward over Eclipse's neck and wrapping my arms as far around her as possible. _"Come on Eclipse! They're almost on top of us!"_

The albino dragon chortles, taking flight as she runs off the edge of the cliff._ "What did you do to them Fire?"_ she asks, deeply amused.

I roll my eyes at her. _"I put a fish under Fury's furs,"_ I admit with a laugh, reaching forward to scratch between her ears.

She lifts her head to glare at me over her shoulder. _"Really hatchling?"_ she drawls, giving me a deadpan stare.

I shake my head, rolling me eyes as the wind picks up, startling me into tightening my grip on her. _"Where'd that wind come from?!" _I growl, panicked as I stare up at the rapidly darkening clouds. _"Oh gods… what is that?"_

"_Our cue to get back home!"_ she shrieks, just as another gust nearly throws me from her back. _"Hold on hatchling!"_

Rain pours down from the dark sky, making it impossible to hold on. _"I can't! I'm slipping!"_

"_Pitch!" _Eclipse cries as I struggle to hold on, the wind tugging me away.

Lightning flashes as I lose my grip. As I fall through the sky, I helplessly watch as Fury and Pitch dive after me, Eclipse just barely behind them. _"Fury!" _

No POV

Steve hauls the unconscious girl out of the water from the back of the quinjet, allowing Phil to take her and lay her on the floor. "She's not breathing," he announces, hurriedly starting CPR on the barely clothed fourteen-year-old.

As she coughs up the water from her lungs, the pilot lands and the hatch opens, allowing medics to enter with a stretcher. But she startles, letting out a surprisingly loud shout and sucker-punching Phil to shock all of those present long enough to dart out and onto the deck. Steve follows her off, where soldiers stare at her as she draws vicious looking daggers from her furred boots, one clutched in each hand and brandished threateningly.

"Whoa, stand down!" Steve shouts, waving his hands to gesture for the raised weapons to be lowered. He cringes at the loud shriek the girl gives, almost a panicked roar. "Kid, it's okay! You're safe here," he murmurs, trying to come closer only to have her swipe a blade towards his middle, forcing him to jump back. "Stop it, we're not going to hurt you," he tries again, softly.

"She doesn't understand you," Bruce calls, approaching carefully.

She cocks her head to the side, looking more like a curious cat than an armed and dangerous teenager. She lowers herself nearly to her hands and knees, staring up into his eyes cautiously. Then, to the shock of everyone, she carefully lowers her blades to the deck and removes two more from her boots, allowing them to join her first ones before she begins stalking towards Bruce.

"What… is going on?" Steve asks Phil, noticing the suited agent standing at his side.

"She might be feral," Phil muses softly, watching in fascination.

Bruce lowers his bag to the ground, stepping carefully forward and crouching to be on level with her, tilting his own head ever so slightly with a bemused smile twisting his lips. He stills as soon as she does a yard away from him, somewhat amused when she reaches out a hand slowly, palm up in offering as she closes her eyes and turns her head away.

"Trust," Steve realizes. "But why Dr. Banner?"

Bruce moves close enough to rest his hand on hers, drawing her attention and a brilliant smile that makes her look even younger than she is. "Bruce," he murmurs to her, free hand on his chest.

She copies the motion, her own hand over her heart, but none of them understand what she says. Blinking, she frowns in frustration. "A… Aid… Aida," she replies after much hesitation and thought, obviously unhappy with the name she's settled on.

Natasha joins Phil as Bruce rises, allowing the girl to move away and retrieve her knives before one of the agents has the chance to grab them. "Doctor?" she asks curiously.

He shrugs helplessly. "I've dealt with a few of these before, but usually they're injured animals. She must have some kind of sixth sense." He looks back as she sneaks up on him, looking up at him in wonder still. "I'm guessing her name is Aida, or it used to be before it was the one in that other language she tried using. She must not really like her name."

Fury stares at the girl dressed in spare clothes far too big at the conference table with Steve watching her. "She's too at ease with the technology," he murmurs to Maria, who nods in agreement as Aida plays solitaire like a pro on her newly provided tablet. "Do we have anything on her?"

"Nothing yet, but she's not a priority like Loki and Barton," she reports steadily, disappointed herself.

"Has someone taken a blood sample or attempted getting her fingerprints?"

"No, sir," she answers. "I was going to try… once I figure out how to approach her without being filleted for my trouble."

Nick smothers his amusement, knowing most of his agents are terrified of the girl who can clearly keep Captain America on his toes with knives alone. "I'll give it a try." He takes the fingerprinting kit from the edge of the table and moves closer to her, knowing she's noticed him by her quick motion to pause her game before staring up at him, hand already on one of her daggers ready to draw it. "My name is Nick Fury," he introduces himself carefully, gesturing to himself easily. "Do you understand me?" At her blank look, he sighs heavily. "Watch," he orders, pointing at her then to his eyes before pulling off a glove and opening the ink pad, pressing his fingers into the ink and pressing them against the paper. "You do it," he orders, placing a fresh sheet in front of her with the ink, using an alcohol wipe to remove the ink and pocketing his own fingerprint set.

Slowly, frowning, she copies his actions, almost as though she's familiar with the procedure but hesitant to do so at the same time. She snarls when he tries to take away the ink quickly, and he notices that she's taking her time because she's going one finger at time with the ink, rather than all at once like he'd demonstrated.

He frowns down at her. "Hurry up," he orders, gesturing for her to speed it up in an uncharacteristically patient manner.

He catches the hint of amusement in her eyes, and wonders what she's finding so funny.

Thor is shocked, upon returning to Loki on the cliff with Tony and Steve, to find two dragons pinning his brother down, a young man leaning casually against a boulder talking in rumbles and growls with the dragons. "Who are you?" he demands, catching the boy's attention.

He glances at the weapon in Thor's hand for all of a second before kneeling before him, one hand in a fist on the ground and the other over his heart. _"My name is Fury, Lord Thor,"_ he answers promptly.

Thor startles at the sound of ancient Norse coming from the boy's lips. "A young Viking?" he asks, knowing Allspeak allows those around him to understand in their own languages.

"_I was born to Vikings before I was cast out years ago by my Chief,"_ he admits neutrally, and Thor can see there's clearly no love lost, at least on the boy's side.

"What is your business here? Why do your dragons so calmly restrain Loki?" he demands.

Fury rolls his eyes, turning to glare at the dragons. _"Those reptiles do what they want, Lord Thor. Pitch blew a plasma blast into Lord Loki's face before Eclipse pounced on him. Both were growling until he opened his eyes, calming for some reason after glaring at him before using Lord Loki as their pillow."_

"Thor, would you please assist me in removing these dragons from my person?" Loki grumbles, shifting uselessly under the weight of two heavy reptiles.

Thor chuckles, turning to look at the still-kneeling Fury. "Friend Fury, please rise and have your companions remove themselves from my brother."

Fury rises quickly, stalking gracefully over to the dragons to growl lowly at them, resulting in the red and green eyes rolling as they grumble, but obey with a spiteful lick to Loki's face and torso.

The Trickster grimaces in disgust. "That's not washing off," he complains at Pitch, who chortles in what even Tony realizes is laughter. "Laugh it up, you useless reptile, just wait until I get my revenge."

"There's a girl that we found who spoke his language, or at least tried to," Steve informs Thor as Natasha lands the quinjet next to them, hatch still open. "She looked young, black hair and brown eyes, very short compared to him."

Thor turns to Fury, who rolls his eyes at the dragons. "Friend Fury, have you lost a companion? Short with dark hair and eyes?"

Fury turns to the God of Thunder with green eyes wide in shock. _"You've found Fire?"_

"He claims her to be called Fire," he informs Steve.

The soldier shakes his head. "She said her name is Aida."

Fury snorts at the name, clearly recognizing it. _"She abandoned the name when we were cast from my tribe. She would only go by her old name as a last resort."_

"It is her old name, the name she prefers is Fire," Thor shares, pulling Loki roughly to his feet and pushing him into a seat before taking one himself.

"Director… you're never going to believe this if you don't see it for yourself," Natasha reports as she lands to quinjet, watching the boy slide off the back of the black dragon, heavily armed with a bow, quiver of strange arrows, a sword, an empty hilt, and more daggers than the girl carried.

"_What am I not going to believe?"_ he asks, and she can hear the frown in his tone.

"Maybe you should bring Aida up to the deck to greet us… I think we've picked up a friend or three of hers," she answers unsurely.

She hears him groan. _"Banner's bringing her up to you, I'm not going near her again."_

"Did she try stabbing you?"

He snorts. _"Clawing and biting, actually, when I got a blood sample from her. She's a vicious piece of work, Banner's the only one keeping her cool."_

After delaying for a long moment, she rises from her seat and walks into the back of the cabin, only to find Loki frowning in confusion as the hatch opens. The albino dragon croons at the passengers curiously, sniffing and snorting before turning to wander the deck with the black dragon at her side. Twin roars make her pale, before she hears a delighted and relieved cheer from two young voices. She rushes out to find a puppy pile of humans and dragons not far away, Aida on top of Fury and the dragons piled on top of them, licking them both happily.

"Quite a happy reunion," Thor crows, smiling brightly.

Loki rolls his eyes. "I pity them for the drool they are drowning in."

They watch the dragons let the humans up in amusement, noticing that neither seems to care about the slobber. _"So, what happened?"_ the girl asks softly, barely loud enough for Loki to hear.

"_There was a portal that summoned you here. It must have been that storm, lightning struck just over the water where you fell. We couldn't find you until another portal appeared near our island when we had to rest,"_ Fury answers softly, scraping away some of the dragon spit from her cheeks. _"Lords Thor and Loki may have answers for us Fire."_

"_What?"_ she asks in shock, turning to find the chained Loki and grinning Thor watching them.

She drops into a kneel before them, more geared towards Loki than Thor Natasha notes worriedly. "Little Fire, there is no need to bow," Loki chides her, moving closer to personally lift her to her feet. "One so mischievous need never do so in my presence."

She grins happily up at him. _"They think I don't understand them, and that I'm feral. It's rather amusing."_

Loki shares her grin. "Well, I see no reason to intrude."

"Brother," Thor sighs, shaking his head with a smile he just can't help.

She turns to Fury. _"Can we keep him?"_

"_No."_

"_Aww, Fury! He's so much fun though!"_ she pleads.

"I believe we should keep Little Fire," Loki muses, snapping his fingers to magic away the slobber.

His words coincide with flood lights turning on, nearly blinding them all as a squad of soldiers comes out to surround Loki. It helps Fire notice something. _"Wait! Lord Thor, tell them to stop! I saw pictures of Lord Loki with blue eyes when I arrived, they are green now!"_ she calls out in a panic.

Nick sighs as he watches Fire picking at her nails with one of her blades next to Loki. "Well, kid's not wrong," he mumbles, annoyed. "So what was the plan Loki?"

"Selvig was a tool required by the one who controlled me, a creature who desires the Tesseract for a malevolent purpose. I was to be used as a puppet to ensure the destruction of Midgard and the retrieval of what he sees as his," Loki answers, mostly watching Fire as Fury does from her other side, both smirking as she growls something under her breath in Dragonese. "As it happens, I do not take kindly to being tortured and controlled. I also happen to enjoy the company of Little Fire and her Fury here."

"Fire and Fury? Really?" Bruce asks with a small grin. "Aida means fire, which is kinda ironic." He knows Fire is up to some kind of mischief, probably something along the lines of being a dimension hopper from this era in human history. It amuses him so much he's willing to go along with it, seeing as the Other Guy seems to appreciate her offer of trust.

Fury rolls his eyes. _"So what do we do? This isn't exactly our territory, and we need to find a way home."_

With Thor's translation to Nick, the director sighs. "You may as well help us Fury, but Fire is too young."

Both of them bristle at the accusation. _"We have been trained by dragons themselves, our dragon mother, to fight worse than dragons and Vikings!"_

"Ooh, they didn't like that," Loki comments with a little smirk.

"You are both minors here, not even close to being adults yet," Nick growls. "And neither of you even understand what I'm saying without a translator.

Fire gives him an amused smirk, one that suddenly worries him as Fury laughs and tries to form words. "Then I guess I should start speaking in your language, shouldn't I?" he asks with a heavy accent and huge grin.

The agents all stop what they're doing. "Maybe I should try using my mother tongue as well?" Fire asks around her giggles. They all note the faded American accent.

Nick pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to not blow up. "You're not even feral, are you?"

"Nope," she answers cheerfully. "I just do that out of habit. Dragons, you know?"

Loki cackles at the successful prank, having only grinned when she told him about leading them on for over a day by the time he'd arrived. Bruce smothers his own laughter, having guessed correctly and glad that someone could catch SHIELD off-guard.

Steve stares at her. "Were you planning on sharing the truth with us?"

"Eventually," she admits, turning to Fury. "Did you bring my bow?"

"Not another archer," Maria groans in annoyance.

"Grabbed it and your arrows right before the portal pulled us in," he answers happily, handing over the quiver of strange arrows. "Grabbed the special ones you like too, with the saliva and Gronkle Iron tips."

She grins widely, pulling one of the apparently yellow and blue arrows, longer than her arm and deadly sharp on their own. "Thank you, Fury."

"Nadder spikes?" Loki asks, plucking one curiously from the quiver she set on the table. "I don't suppose you left the poison on them?" he asks warily, careful not to cut himself.

"And miss the chance to kill dragon trappers?" Fire asks with a snort. "Eret's lucky to be alive after trying to steal Cinder!"

"Is there something we're missing?" Natasha asks sternly, though obviously amused.

Fury smirks, gesturing to Fire proudly. "You're looking at the best archer in the archipelago. No Viking has ever been able to outshoot or outsmart her in a knife fight."

The tablet in Bruce's hand chimes loudly, catching everyone's attention. He silences it with a frown. "That's Fire's DNA test, positive results for a missing and presumed dead Aida Winter. Mother vanished in the same storm in Northern Europe when she was six, named Lilith Maria Winter…"

Tony walks in, catching the name as Bruce reads it off and pales. "What about Lily?" he asks, startling the others around the table.

"She's been missing and presumed dead for seven years, along with her apparently living daughter Aida," Bruce replies, before frowning. "Strange, SHIELD's got a restricted file on her father."

"Why do you care about her?" Natasha asks curiously.

"I set her up in witness protection under that name almost fifteen years ago," Tony answers.

Nick takes the tablet and inputs a password, opening the file. "Oh fuck," he groans, rubbing his forehead and closing his eye.

Fire cocks a brow at that. "I haven't even done enough to get you to do that yet, who managed that?"

"Tony Stark… meet your daughter, Aida Amelia Winter," Bruce announces warily.

Tony stares at the teenage girl at the table, who he easily identifies as his and Lily's child from her eyes and hair alone. She has his eyes, even his frame and straight hair, but everything else is her mother, even the color of her hair. She's almost amusingly short, compared to the boy she's clearly very close to, but obviously isn't at ease in the sweats and t-shirt she wears, plucking at the fabric in annoyance.

"So… what does it matter?" she asks, not understanding the significance of her parentage.

Tony groans, rubbing the side of his face. "Well, I didn't know that my ex was pregnant when she went into witness protection."

"You? In an actual relationship?" Nick asks, bemused.

Tony waves the director off. "Doesn't make much of a difference now, I didn't contact her after I sent her away just in case. Makes sense she was pregnant though, she'd been a little off just before I said goodbye." He approaches Fire warily, shocking everyone when he isn't even remotely threatened by her, though he is highly cautious about the way the boy watches him. "Well, looks like you inherited a lot of your mom's looks."

She shrugs, not really caring. "So?"

"Why don't you seem to care all that much?" he shoots right back.

"Don't really remember much before I washed up on Berk in the first storm after the thaw," she answers easily. "After that, I kinda grew to dislike most humans. They didn't like Fury or myself much anyway, even his father."

"Aida…" he starts worriedly.

She bristles at the name. "My name is Fire," she insists stubbornly. "I hate that name."

"Better than Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," Fury insists. "Fury is a much better name."

"Yeah, especially after you sunk that Roman armada approaching our winter hideout with Pitch," she comments lightly, amused.

Tony looks around in confusion. "What is going on?" he asks as the two start bickering in what he doesn't know is Ancient Norse.

"Your daughter apparently went through a kind of portal when she was six and washed up on an island in an alternate dimension, in Viking times and apparently with dragons," Nick answers, trying to stave off a migraine as the two start growling and chirping at one another. The ones he means to become the Avengers watch the two of them like a tennis match, Loki and Thor trying to smother their amusement even as Thor moves to stand behind Fury and Loki shifts a little closer to Fire. "We've got our hands full with these kids and their dragons."

"I think they've got patron gods too," Maria murmurs in response, almost amused at the scene unraveling before them.

"What are you wearing?" Tony asks when Fire stalks into the lab, dressed in her normal skin-tight leather halter and knee-length shorts, holding a mask she didn't have before in one hand and a pair of strange red boots in the other. A quiver is strapped tightly to her left leg and her enormous bone-white bow is slung over her chest.

She frowns at him. "I'm a dragon rider, and an archer. This is practical for ease of motion, and my armor isn't finished yet."

"You shouldn't be wearing such skimpy clothes," he insists, inputting commands on one of the screens.

She rolls her eyes as she sits on a counter to pull on her fur-lined boots. "We make what we wear, and wool is too hard to steal from the tribes. Skins and dragon leather are hard enough to work with, and we cover what we can since we're still growing," she informs them, tugging on her first boot with ease. "Besides, Glowwing's parts are meant to become our armor, and Fury is having a hard enough time making things I can grow into."

"Tony, just leave it alone," Bruce advises. "It's the way she's been living for years now, you can't change her mind about it. It was hard enough getting her to agree to wear the SHIELD gear while her stuff was being cleaned after her dip in the ocean."

"I've done worse things than dive into the ocean without cleaning my clothes," she mutters, pulling on the other boot without a fuss. "Believe me, helping a dying dragon lay her eggs was messy. Had to cut her open to save the eggs last Snoggletog, after hunters killed her mate and left her for dead in a razor-wire trap. Couldn't get the blood off so I had to make new clothes after the babies hatched."

"Tell me more about how you met your dragons," Bruce requests, slightly queasy at the thought of a twelve-year-old being covered in dragon's blood and other substances just to save a clutch of eggs.

She lights up with joy. "Well, I washed up on Berk, not knowing dragons were real until the dragon raid a week after I washed up. They were violent, fighting Vikings and both sides hurting and killing each other. I didn't like the thought of learning to kill them though, and neither did Fury, so we weren't very welcome, but the Chief didn't do anything since we were still young and could still change our minds. So, in the last raid we were on Berk when I was nine, the house caught on fire and we had to get out. Glowwing's son landed in front of us, and we weren't too sure about our chances against a Monstrous Nightmare when we raised my swords against him. Turned out, he saw us as hatchlings and didn't attack us. Fury almost touched his snout before the Chief cut off his head in front of us before casting us out. Glowwing snatched our boat right out of the water not too far away from the dock, and she became our mother." She pulls her hair over her shoulder and combs her fingers through the long locks. "She taught us how to communicate in Dragonese, and about the peaceful nature of dragons. They're just like humans, with families and feelings… each species with its own culture. We lost the scent of Vikings pretty fast under her care, and she taught us how to defend ourselves properly; how to calm a raging dragon and heal their injuries… everything she possibly could. She died a couple years ago, and we met Pitch and Eclipse soon after."

"Pitch and Eclipse?" Tony asks shortly, frowning.

"Our mated Night Furies, Eclipse is an albino and Pitch is the black one," she clarifies. "The last of their species as far as we know, and the most mysterious and deadly to Vikings. They actually tried frying us when we first met, but we were stubborn and eventually became friends once they learned we don't like Vikings. We're like siblings now, and they're waiting on hatchlings until we grow up." She laughs lightly as something. "They're the most dangerous according to Vikings, but they act like overgrown kittens most of the time. You should see them when it's raining, they always pout like big babies."

Bruce chuckles as Loki wanders in, giving the scepter a wide berth as he comes to stand next to Fire protectively. "Regaling your father and his friend with tales of your recklessness?" he teases her.

"Haven't gotten there yet," she answers happily. "I just told them about how Pitch and Eclipse tried frying us before we became friends."

"That is classified as reckless," Loki informs her sternly.

Tony rolls his eyes. "Why are you in here Reindeer Games?" he asks, annoyed that the god seems so close to his daughter.

"I am keeping a careful watch over your daughter. She's had my interest for a number of years, I should hate to see anything untoward occur while she is under my watch," Loki answers slowly, as though talking to a child.

"Eclipse tried to use you as a cuddle toy, didn't she?" Fury asks, joining the two but sitting on the counter next to Fire. "Don't worry, she does it to both of us all the time."

"Why are all of you in here anyway?" Tony asks, slightly annoyed that there are so many people in the lab.

"Bruce," Fire answers cheekily.

"Fire," Loki and Fury answer at the same time.

Loki then turns his attention back to Fire and Fury. "I wish to assess your fighting skills. There is a training room not far from here."

Fire grins excitedly as Loki leads them out, much to Tony's mixed relief and dismay. "Why doesn't Fire seem to like me?"

"My best guess? Bad experiences with a father figure in that village she talked about," Bruce answers. "You should've seen her when she first saw me though, she was like a wild animal and got through to the Other Guy somehow. He seems to really like her and Fury."

"Must be a dragon thing," Tony muses to himself, shutting up and focusing on altering the tracking program once more.

Loki watches carefully as the two dragon riders duke it out in the middle of the padded floor, watching for flaws and finding few that aren't deliberate. They dance around each other with razor sharp blades in the way most Asgardians would in the training fields, with absolute trust in one another to not take the fight too far. He admires the way they move, wondering just how long it had taken for them to learn with just each other and dragons.

Natasha walks in and halts, staring almost in horror as Fire crosses her blades just in time to catch Fury's sword, stopping it centimeters from her face without a flinch. She tenses before pushing up and kicking at Fury's stomach, sending him stumbling back as she recovers, circling once more. _"Let's up the stakes," _Fire calls eagerly, finger hovering over a button on the hilt of her blades.

Fury grins widely, pressing a button on his blade at the same time, sending a trickle of nightmare saliva down their blades and igniting them in the same motion. They rush one another, and only then does Natasha notice their strange arm guards, white on Fire and black on Fury, seemingly made of scales. "Is this really a good idea?" she asks Loki neutrally.

"They have learned in much harsher conditions than these. This is child's play to them, though quite a bit more… intense than even Asgardians would do. The dragons would have been harsher than the strictest instructor in the palace," Loki drawls, watching proudly as Fire bends over backwards to dodge a swing while kicking at Fury's chest, sending them both to the floor.

She recovers quickly, rushing over to plant a foot on Fury's left wrist to stop him from raising the weapon again and crossing her flaming daggers over his neck, barely an inch from his skin. _"Do you yield?"_ she asks teasingly.

Fury rolls his eyes, going completely limp under her. _"This time Fire,"_ he sighs, flicking another button on his blade to retract it as Fire sheathes her blades in the dragon-scale holster in her boots, the heat hardly reaching her skin as the flames are smothered.

"Alright children, that was an excellent fight, but both of you have much to fix in your stances," Loki announces, approaching the teens as they rise to their feet. "Fire, you keep your feet a little too close and your posture is horribly stiff. Fury, you are also stiff and unbalanced, but given who your father is and his weapon of choice that is hardly your fault." He turns strictly to Fire. "Let me see how you hold your blades," he orders her.

She draws the blades but doesn't ignite them again, curling her fingers firmly around the plain hilts.

He adjusts her grip closer to the pommel of the blades. "Better there when you hold them along your arms like this. When you stab forward, you'll want to keep your grip a little closer to the blade for better leverage against larger opponents." He turns to Fury, who's already drawn his own weapon. "Loosen your grip, getting a cramp your hand is the kiss of death. You'll want to keep your right hand at the pommel against larger opponents as well to counterbalance, though your grip is in a good spot." He looks critically down at the girl half his size. "Now, I am not one for archery, but perhaps the Lady Agent here will be able to provide some input."

Natasha leads Fire to the archery target set up specifically for Clint, gesturing for her to begin. However, she's surprised when Fire goes for Clint's practice arrows, rather than her own. "Why not use yours?"

"They'll explode, and I don't think we want to poison anyone on cleaning duty," she drawls, draping the quiver of Clint's arrows over her shoulders before drawing and firing. "Very different from mine though," she complains, having shot a little too high over the bull's eye. "Lighter than nadder spikes and iron. It's not cold enough to be metal though…"

"Fiberglass or an aluminum alloy I think," Natasha explains. "Standard issue really, just these don't have special attachments like Agent Barton's mission arrows do." Natasha watches as her aim improves, until all but five arrows are clustered in the bull's eye. "Your stance looks fine, but you don't breathe as evenly as you probably should."

Fire stares at Nick in terror, Fury and Loki standing behind her. "Nuclear bombs? Like the one from Hiroshima?" she asks, pale and horrified.

"How do you even remember that?" Nick asks condescendingly. "You weren't even old enough to learn about that shit before you vanished."

"I know the stories! You're making things that can turn countries into wastelands!" she shouts, shaking and terrified at the thought.

"What do you think your legacy is? How do you think Stark made his fortune?" he sneers right back.

"What gives you the right to play God?!" she shouts. Loki pulls her back into himself, soothing her the best he can.

"How did this become about me?" Tony asks, glaring at Fury for bringing up his past deeds in front of his newly-discovered daughter.

"Isn't it always?" Steve growls.

Bruce looks at Natasha and points over his shoulder at the monitor. "Did you know about this?"

"You should think about removing yourself from this environment," she advises lowly.

Fire covers her ears in distress, prompting Loki to turn her around and bury her face in his robes. Fury's arms rise to cover his own ears, even as he shakes his head to fight off the strange buzzing in his head that makes him dizzy. Loki barely notices his surroundings until he is thrown from his feet by an explosion, shielding the girl in his arms as glass and metal flies through the air. Then the scepter touches him, and he is lost in a haze of blue, leaving the unconscious teen at the mercy of his master's control.

"Follow me," he orders her, leading her to the deck and into a quinjet, leaving Barton and most of his possessed men behind to wreak havoc among SHIELD and the Avengers. As they sit, he absently helps her put on her helmet, tucking her hair into the back in a fatherly manner.

Tony glares at the Norse God, noting instantly that the previously green eyes are a vivid blue, just like Selvig on the roof, and Fire who stands behind Loki. His daughter, the precious girl he already treasures, aims her dragon bow at him, deadly arrow nocked but not yet drawn and leveled at his heart.

"Please, tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki taunts him with a false grin.

"Uh, no, I'm planning on threatening you," Tony snarks back, hoping to get through to the Trickster long enough to get him away from the scepter and for Eclipse to get here to knock some sense into the two before him. "Drink?" he offers, walking around the bar.

Loki turns away from him. "The Chitauri are coming… what have I to fear?" he asks, turning back dramatically.

"The Avengers," Tony answers, bored.

"Ah, yes. I've met them."

"I'll admit, it takes us a little while to get some traction," he sighs. "But let's see. We have two super-spies, your brother – the demigod, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a super-soldier, a pair of dimension-hoppers and dragons, and you, big guy, have managed to piss off every single one of 'em."

"I have an army," Loki growls.

Tony takes a sip of his drink. "We have a Hulk."

Loki chuckles darkly. "I thought the beast had wandered off?"

"You don't get it, there is no throne, no winning the Earth."

He's enormously relieved when Eclipse destroys his window and tackles her rider to the floor in a shower of shattered glass, taking Loki down with them. She smacks her rider's head against the floor harshly before barreling into Loki, gripping his feet in her mouth and swinging him around, smashing him into the marble floor like a chew toy before letting him go to shoot a plasma blast into the wheezing god's face.

Tony crouches next to Loki, kicking the scepter away. "You back Loki, or do you need to go another round with my daughter's dragon?"

Loki waves the billionaire off with relief. "Stop the Tesseract… scepter should break the… barrier," he weakly orders Tony.

Loki finds Fire huddled in a dark corner of her closet, arms wrapped around her legs and curled into a tight ball, eyes distant and cheeks stained with tears. "Little Fire… come out," he calls softly. When she doesn't move, or even appear to acknowledge him, he gives a heavy sigh before sitting next to her. He gathers her gently into his arms, not surprised when she curls into him. He focuses on an illusion of himself, sending it to Eclipse to bring her to take care of her rider while he works with Tony and Bruce on the transport device.

When the white reptile comes in to curl around them, without giving him a chance to get up, he decides he might as well stay a little longer. He's not needed yet anyway.

A shadow cuts through the moonlight filtering into Tony's lab, and when he looks up to find the cause it happens again. He approaches the window cautiously, only to smile ever slightly at the sight of Fire and Fury on the backs of Pitch and Eclipse, soaring over the city and around the skyscrapers with practiced ease. He watches the teens rocket up into the clouds almost in awe, noticing they don't even seem bothered by the cold, regardless of the fact his daughter isn't nearly dressed enough to fend off the cold.

Bruce looks out the window as the two dive downwards along the side of the tower. "Those two are crazy."

"No worse than some of the stunts I've done in the suit," Tony comments back lightly. "They've done that for years, it makes sense they'd keep up their routine. The dragons have been getting a little antsy."

Bruce turns back to the device, pushing one last wire into place and soldering it there. "Well, this thing is done. You just need to add the program, Loki needs to work his magic, and they can be in Asgard first thing in the morning."

Tony lets out a soft sigh. "Do you think I should try to keep the kids here or let them go?"

"Tony…" Bruce sighs heavily. "This isn't her world. Her world is filled with dragons and Vikings. She barely remembers anything about our world, and wasn't very sure about her English anymore." Tony continues watching the dragons flying just under the clouds. "She was gone long before you knew her."

Tony offers his daughter a bag filled with a modernized version of her old leather outfit, spares laced with metal alloys to protect her under the dragon scales. They're all her favored halters and shorts, even new steel-toed boots and some daggers. "You take care of yourself, hear me kid?" he asks sternly, hoping he's making the right choice in letting his daughter go without a fight.

She accepts the bag unsurely after shrugging on her new leather jacket. "Thank you," she murmurs, unused to receiving gifts.

"Fire… I loved your mother very much, I'd been in a relationship with her for two years. I was going to ask her to marry me, but then she had to be hidden. If I'd known you existed, I'd have never stopped looking for you. I would've tried to be good father," he whispers, hand squeezing her shoulder gently.

She offers a weak smile in return. "It's the thought that counts." Hesitantly, she steps closer and wraps her arms around him, allowing him to hold her tightly to himself for just a moment. "Maybe I'll find a way to visit before Lord Odin sends us back to the Archipelago."

She pulls away and takes several steps backwards before joining Fury and the Asgardians, taking her spot around the Tesseract between Loki and Eclipse. She closes her eyes just as Thor twists his part of the device, washing them with heat and light for all of a second before it's over. She opens her eyes to find a golden palace standing proudly before them, glittering in the morning light.

Loki's hand rests on her shoulder, drawing her attention back to the ground, where an old man in golden armor and a beautiful blonde woman approach, surrounded by guards. "Thor's parents, Allfather Odin and Frigga, king and queen of Asgard," he whispers to the mortals in their company.

Both immediately kneel, heads bowed and fists over their hearts. Even their dragons bow respectfully to the two. Frigga stares openly at the creatures as she approaches them, reaching out absently in offering. Eclipse raises her snout to nudge the queen's hand, begging for a scratch that is instantly given. "I had never thought I would ever see another Night Fury until I reached Valhalla." She turns to the teens. "You may rise children."

Odin turns to Thor. "You have brought your brother home, but not in shackles?" he demands, reminding Fire and Fury all too much of Stoick.

"I have learned some terrible truths on Midgard, Father," Thor responds calmly. "Loki was never responsible for what happened around the time that I was banished. He was attacked and controlled by a creature seeking ultimate power over life and death."

"Loki, is this true?" Frigga asks softly, approaching her son with worry shining in her blue eyes.

"Yes Mother. I have no recollection of the week leading up to Thor's coronation but small flashes of cold and betrayal," he admits softly. "I would never have sought to harm my brother, or seek power over Midgard, unless I wasn't in my right mind."

"Why have you brought mortals to Asgard?" Odin asks imperiously.

Thor shields Fury as Loki pulls Fire slightly behind himself. "Father, they passed through portals not of the Tesseract's making and entered our time. They are from the era where Vikings still battled dragons on Midgard," Thor answers quickly.

Odin stares at the two, shaking his head. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Heir of Berk. Aida Maria Winter-Stark, the child of one of your Midgardian warriors. Only the boy belongs in that era."

"Aida was raised there after her mother's death, with no way back until days ago," Loki clarifies. "This era has no claim on her anymore."

Frigga rests a hand on her husband's shoulder, silencing him before he can think about speaking again. "I have seen these children in my dreams, Odin. They are as much children of men as they are of dragons, just like Hiccup's mother is, and under the protection of our sons. They were meant to be here."

"They are too young," Odin informs Frigga tiredly.

"Their souls are older than their bodies, dear husband. They are warriors in their own right, side by side with their dragon companions," she muses, before turning to look at the children. "Your dragon mother was right to name you Fire and Fury. You will both do greater things than befriend the last of the Night Furies."

"_Thank you, my Queen,"_ Fury responds softly, bowing again.

Frigga smiles, having almost forgotten what it was like to have the respect of mortals. "Come children, you must be famished. I'll have a maid fix up some rooms for you, and a seamstress fix up a wardrobe for your stay." She ushers the two out, followed by their curious dragons, leaving Odin with Loki and Thor to get their stories.

Eir shakes her head, indicating for one of her helpers to take the drugged Fire from the bed of the Soul Forge for Loki to take her place. She frowns at the identical readings. "Your minds were definitely altered by the same force, but yours on a much longer time-frame, Prince Loki," she announces worriedly. "What could have possibly affected you while you were at full health though?"

Loki sits upright and runs his fingers through his hair in agitation. "I cannot recall who or what may have attacked me."

"This is worrying. I shall have a word with Heimdall, he may hold some answers," Odin declares, stalking out to speak with the Guardian of the Bifrost.

Frigga hovers at Fire's side. "Were there any traces of what may have sent Little Fire between worlds?"

"Some, but not enough to find what brought the children into this time," Eir refutes, frustrated. "I've never seen anything like this before. The mind control is easily explained by the Infinity Stone powering the scepter, the casing around the stone was poorly made, or designed to influence even the wielder."

"Is there any way to know who made the scepter?" Frigga asks softly.

"There… is a chance some of the smiths would know, but it is unlikely. The work is foreign, even to me," Loki answers

Eir straightens suddenly. "My Queen, is the Convergence coming within the next few years?"

Frigga's eyes widen as she looks at Fire. "Perhaps she was sent through an early portal."

"Or one of the hidden paths between worlds," Loki butts in, getting off the bed to wave a glowing hand over Fire hurriedly. He nods slowly. "The stain of an older path I use to visit the dragons in her era still stains her soul. However, darker magic is fading away from her still, leading me to think that the Allfather might have accidentally summoned Fire and Fury to Midgard when he sent Thor."

Eir revisits the data from Fury's scan, creating holograms of the teens to compare their results. "It has the same mark, and Thor still has traces of dark magic on him," Eir muses. "But it is still worrying that a young child even survived the trip alone through the path to the Viking era."

"If Heimdall was able to see her, perhaps he ensured she arrived at the other end relatively safely," Loki muses, scooping up Fire and carrying her out. "I shall put her to bed Mother. If you have need of me, I shall be in the library."

Loki looks up at the sound of metal being drawn from a sheathe just in front of himself, only to find Sif's sword level with his face. "Ah, Sif. What a lovely surprise." He glances over to the courtyard where his and Thor's charges are busy sparring, blades so far not aflame. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"What are you planning?" she asks neutrally.

He rolls his eyes. "I am trying to plan how to get my Little Fire and Fury over there to dress properly. They still wear far too little, even if it does provide advantages when handling rogue dragons. Well, that and teach them some manners."

Sif stares down at him in shocked wonder. "Since when do you have any amount of care for such things?"

"They are still but children. We were all lucky enough to be raised in a stable home, they were cast from their village for not killing a dragon when they were younger. They are wild, and they need to learn to handle themselves in a manner that will appeal to their humanity rather than to dragons alone," Loki explains, as if to a child. "Tell me you don't agree?"

Sif watches the two for a moment, seeing their grace in every movement but also just how wild they are truly shows in their eyes and the unpredictability in their every step. Their clothes are poorly sewn together, roughly made leather and animal skins. They don't even wear shoes, both of their feet revealing thick calluses that shows both tend to go without shoes more often than not. She can even see it in their stances, the posture screaming primitive instincts of aggression and asserting dominance.

"They are more dragon than human," Sif agrees after a long period of watching them, almost flinching when Fire's daggers and Fury's sword are lit with deadly flames that don't even seem to bother them.

Loki watches them pour their souls into their deadly dance. "Fire could barely remember her own language after a year with the Vikings, before Fury made her teach him so she wouldn't forget her home. And yet they both still struggle with human communication after four years away from society."

"Why do you care about them so much?"

Loki glances up at her before watching the two intently once more. "I see myself in them. Different from everyone else, trying and failing to meet everyone's expectations, and being ridiculed and tormented at every turn even when something benefits them." Sif turns away in shame. "Where I had only Mother to attempt to guide me… I _will_ guide them. The Vikings made a mistake in throwing these children away when they did, and they have suffered many years for that act. They will pay a little longer before they might have a reprieve."

Sif sheathes her blade. "What did you do to them Loki?"

"I have done nothing to the island of Berk. All I did was tell a mother dragon that her son was killed attempting to befriend two young non-combatants. She plucked them from the sea and raised them until her death," he answers softly, watching the two fondly. "These two are the closest I will ever get to raising children again Sif, I have accepted that. As such, I have ensured their comfortable survival without approaching them."

A sudden storm awakens the Avengers with a jolt, and they rush up to the penthouse to find Fire, Fury, Loki, Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three on their way down from the roof of the tower, the youngest two on the backs of their dragons flying lazily around the tower. "You've only been gone a week and the Bifrost is fixed?" Tony asks incredulously.

"We had no choice but to work quickly to bring the Tesseract back to Midgard," Thor informs them as Loki monitors the teens. "There is a threat to all of life on its way here as we speak, the Chitauri are under its control."

Natasha frowns. "What threat?"

"Perhaps we should start at the beginning," Sif decides, knowing Thor is nervously rambling now and won't give the mortals a clear picture. "There is a Mad Titan by the name of Thanos, he has made it obvious in recent times that he wishes to court Lady Death, Hel. She set a challenge for him, that if he could deliver half the souls of the entire universe to her doorstep, she would allow the courtship."

Bruce raises a hand to gesture for a pause. "Hel, as in the Goddess of Death? Loki's daughter?"

Thor winces. "Aye, my niece. She is the Queen of Helheim, banished by my father for a prophecy involving Ragnarok that I do not believe in."

"She brought her concerns to Loki, who in turn confided in Queen Frigga and Allfather Odin. At first, their concerns were brushed aside, until Loki returned with the mark of the Mind Stone. It was what controlled him and other Midgardians with your warriors," Sif explains steadily. "It is also one of the Infinity Stones, objects of untold power that could destroy entire planets if not contained properly, and violently destroy any being not powerful enough to handle the power alone. Each has a unique property, such as the Mind Stone allowing power over the mind, and the Tesseract creates a portal to the other end of the universe."

"Thanos?" Clint asks with a frown, warily watching Loki as he steps out onto the balcony.

Thor watches his brother worriedly. "We've determined one of his children attacked Loki with the Mind Stone at least a week before my coronation ceremony, leading to his fall and assumed death. In truth, he was a prisoner in his own mind until he was released from its power, only to be tortured by Thanos and the Chitauri for months before his arrival on Midgard, wielding the Mind Stone in his scepter."

"If Thanos makes it to Midgard, he will collect the Infinity Stones in order to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, a device that allows any being who wears it full control over the Stones without destroying their body." Sif looks around at the Midgardians, glad they seem to be taking this seriously. "He does not yet have the Gauntlet, but he is still strong enough to handle at least a single Stone at a time. There are at least two of the Infinity Stones here on Midgard, the Tesseract being one of them. The Mind Stone is secure in Asgard, and Aether is still sealed in an unknown location. I believe there is another still in the hands of The Collector in Knowhere, the Power Stone should still be hidden on a dead planet."

"We believe the Time Stone is hidden by a secret society on Midgard, and the Soul Stone is one we are still unsure about," Thor explains. "Thanos will come here soon, if only to punish Loki for not accomplishing his mission and delivering the Tesseract."

Tony rises to pace. "How soon is soon? Months? Days? Years?"

The Asgardians trade looks. "Without the Tesseract, it could take him several more years to make the journey here, but no more than ten, even if he were to stop somewhere along the way," Fandral estimates quietly. "He is much closer to Asgard and our allies than he is to Midgard. As much as the Tesseract belongs on Asgard, it is one of the most dangerous Stones and could provide him and his army instant transport anywhere in the universe. If it were to stay on Midgard, for a time at least, the siege would be guaranteed to wait closer to a decade. You would have more time to prepare for the siege, choose a battlefield, and improve your weaponry."

Natasha looks warily at Tony. "Your daughter said she and Fury took down a Roman armada recently."

Tony flinches at the thought of her killing so many men in a single go. "What's your point?"

"She was raised a Viking, and Fury the son of a Chief. They've been raised on stories of Thanos," Steve murmurs thoughtfully.

"If they could destroy that many ships in a single go, without so much as a full day of planning, what could they come up with, given time to plan and knowledge of the weaknesses and strengths of their enemies?" she asks softly.

Tony shakes his head. "I want her out of this."

"Man of Iron," Thor implores, rising to look into his eyes on more even ground. "Your daughter has already proven her worth in the field of battle. She has strong allies and a brilliant mind – she is a fine hunter and warrior. If she could befriend dragons… there is no doubt she could face an army with us and win."

"She's all I have left of her mother."

"The choice is still hers to make, my friend," Thor offers, understanding that he fears for his daughter. "But I know that she will wish to fight, and Fury will stand by her, even in death."

Clint clears his throat. "Stark… she's not a kid anymore."

Clint watches the teens bicker in growls and purrs over maps of the country, specifically uninhabited regions of the United States, though there is one of Africa that's been pushed aside. He turns back to the map of the Mojave Desert, remembering his mission watching Mjolnir in New Mexico last year. He turns to the two in open amusement, noticing only now that the teens are only arguing over what is likely to be the pros and cons of a certain location.

"Kids!" he barks, silencing the two. "The Mojave Desert is the best location. Specifically, Death Valley. Nothing lives there, and there's no risk of water sources being contaminated in the event we use the Phase Two weapons. People who live in the region are far enough away that they won't be affected, and there's plenty of space for the battle to spread out or cluster up. The only issue would be avoiding heatstroke on our end, and we don't know how the Chitauri will react to extreme heat."

"So we make it a late night into daylight battle," Fury suggests. "Soldiers will have time to adjust to the heat as the sun rises, and the Chitauri won't think about it until its too late. We bring extra water and adapt the uniforms to keep the soldiers from getting heatstroke." Fury picks up a pencil and draws a line down the middle of the valley, dividing one end from the other.

"Set up the Tesseract in a chokepoint to slow them down, even after the portal is open. We control the rate they come out," Fire analyzes. "Set up a couple of tents or bunkers far enough from the battle that it won't be directly in the life of fire, but close enough to get help to the wounded quickly and restock on water or weapons."

Clint nods in agreement. "We take out the army before Thanos arrives, using regular foot-soldiers to keep the Chitauri busy while we take on the big guy ourselves."

Fire smiles rather grimly. "Just like the Romans, just we aren't sinking boats this time, and these are real monsters instead of people."

"I really wish we had more than two Night Furies with us. Maybe a couple of Whispering Deaths and some Monstrous Nightmares," Fury sighs, though he still nods along for the plan.

Fire's eyes light up. "I gotta go ask Loki something!" she informs them hopefully, running out of the conference room without a word of explanation.

Loki strokes the snout of a Monstrous Nightmare calmly. "Perhaps these fine creatures would be able to turn the tide for us. The energy of the weapons the Chitauri use has effects very similar to the plasma blasts used by Eclipse, which will only bruise the dragons rather than kill them."

He watches Fire have a growled conversation with the Nightmare before him, cautious as it pulls away from his attentions and nuzzles into her stomach before roaring and taking flight. _"He's going to recruit some more Nightmares. Are Chitauri affected by sound?"_

"Thunderdrums?" Loki asks with a grin.

"_I was also thinking of tracking down a couple of Changewings, since we've got the Gronkles and Whispering Deaths gathering near the portal."_

"You do have some manner of convincing them to follow orders, I presume?" he asks, following her to the cliff to ride Eclipse back to the Winter Sanctuary.

She nods slowly. _"I've worked with all of these dragons with Fury for a few years now, and they've agreed that, if we had to go into battle together, that they would listen to the call of a staff I've made from the bones and scales of a dead Bewilderbeast we found about two years ago in the Sanctuary."_

Loki settles behind her before Eclipse takes off. "Have you thought of the Zipplebacks? Their gas would be useful without draining Midgard's resources?"

"_There are a few that stay in the Sanctuary, we can ask them when we get there," _she decides after a moment of deliberation. _"I just don't want to risk taking more dragons than the Director can feed, and this is really a spur of the moment idea. Fury is already going to be a little upset that I'm pulling more dragons into our fight."_

"Fury will understand. These dragons are your allies, they are glad to fight at your side, even die there if they must. You do not see how loyal and grateful these dragons are to the two of you, but it is quite clear to me," he assures her.

"_Thank you."_

"Where are Fire and Loki?" Nick demands upon his arrival in the desert with half of their armed forces, who already begin setting up for the big fight in a week.

Fury rolls his eyes, scratching Pitch's chin. "I don't know, she ran off to ask Lord Loki something and we couldn't find either of them before we left the Tower. Lord Thor said they had an errand to run before they flew off on Eclipse." He sighs at the annoyed growl the director lets out. "Look, they will be here in time for the fight, they wouldn't abandon us now. This is personal for them now, after what Thanos did to them."

"I'm glad you have such faith in us, Fury," Loki drawls as Eclipse makes her landing behind Nick. "Sorry for vanishing for five days, but we had some allies to gather. Director, we will need to arrange either large shipments of fresh fish or find an area where we can be allowed to fish freely."

"What did you do?" Nick asks, almost dreading the answer.

Fire smirks from her place on Eclipse's back. "Well, those allies are a little on the large, scaly side, and have talents you'll appreciate," she teases, just as a small army of dragons lands all around them in a perfect formation.

Fury grins at all the familiar dragons. "You found a way home?"

"And got us the backup we needed," she answers cheekily. "We're playing against the weaknesses of the Chitauri. They cluster together in swarms – Zipplebacks can easily set off explosions. Ones on the ground can be attacked from below by the Whispering Deaths, who really love this kind of soil. Gronkles can literally run them over like a bulldozer. Thunderdrums can mess with the control of the Queens or even explode their heads if they get close enough. The Changewings can spray them with acid from far above or cover the ground before the Chitauri even arrive. The Nightmares can light themselves on fire and fly right through them." She reaches forward to scratch between Eclipse's eyes. "And two Night Furies who… never… miss."

Nick slowly nods, a small smile working its way onto his face. "This just made the odds of winning so much better."

"I liked the odds better if we had waited for an attack," Sif decides, poking at her dinner worriedly.

Fire sighs heavily, finishing the last of her own dinner. "Its better to do it now before Thanos finds a way to increase the size of his army or finds allies, or can even improve their weapons. We've already got a lot of technology that they won't be expecting, and we've got the lay of the land. The dragons are already in place for when Selvig opens the portal, all we have to do is stick to the plan until Thanos arrives."

Tony approaches Fire quietly, though she already knows he's there by the time he taps her shoulder. "Do you have a moment kid?" he asks.

She smiles up at him tensely before excusing herself from Sif, following Tony out of the tent and into the cooling desert evening. She spies dozens of his Iron Man suits, all brand new and waiting to be deployed remotely from the control center, where he will monitor the fight and manage their people through radios and satellite feeds.

"You're worried about how this will end," she states warily when they stop near the charging suits.

"I am," he agrees easily. "There's a lot that could go wrong tonight."

Fire swallows nervously, not looking at him but rather examining the suit. "If you go in with that kind of attitude, then things will end badly," she informs him carefully.

Tony shakes his head, leading her to a box that he opens to reveal a different kind of armor from his suits. "I had some time while you were on Asgard to make this. If you run out of arrows… if you get separated from Eclipse and Fury, I want you to use the repulsors to fight your way back to them and get out of the fight, no matter what." She admires the armor designed just like her father's, even though she doesn't quite like the fact that she's likely to need it covering all of her skin. "I made a suit for Fury as well, so you'll both be safer. It's got a cooling function so you won't overheat with the metal, and its light enough that it won't bother your dragons too much."

She looks up at him with a smile. "Thank you… Dad."

He pulls her into his chest, holding her there tightly as he closes his eyes to hide his tears, just as Fire does.

Tony is able to hide his nerves as he orders the soldiers about the battlefield, spotting weaknesses in the ranks and closing them up. Soldiers who were brave enough to take a crash course in dragon riding follow Fire and Fury on dragon back, attacking the chariots as their fellows on the ground use their various vehicles to attack in perfect maneuvers.

"**Command, this is Fire. Coming back for a reload on Nadder arrows, forty seconds from base!"**

"**Acknowledged, package is waiting."**

"**Package delivered!" **Fire confirms, rejoining the battle. **"Gronkles, lower altitude! Zipplebacks, gas the clusters by the portal in one minute!"**

"**Ignition! Enemies down by portal, enemies are backing up in the portal!"** Fury confirms as Pitch takes him into a steep dive.

"Changewings and Nightmares, make a sweep in front of the tanks!" Tony orders, noticing the Chitauri are getting a little too close for his taste.

"**Affirmative, engaging!"**

"**Damn, this acid eats through anything!"**

"**Next wave has cleared the portal, but it isn't nearly as many as before. Estimate on remaining enemies?!" **Fire requests worriedly, noticing the sun is getting high enough to start getting a little too warm.

Tony runs a quick program to find they've gone through the majority of the army. "Roughly seventy percent of the estimated numbers from Loki's intel!" he announces, to the loud cheering of thousands of men on the ground.

"**Oh God, what is that?!" **

"**Who is this guy?! Bullets ain't doin' shit!"**

Tony pales at the realization. "Everyone, pull back! Keep your distance, and keep firing on the purple bastard!" He turns to another console. "JARVIS, disengage Chitauri, focus all suits on Thanos!" He looks at the aerial battle, finding few chariots remaining. "Fire, Fury, send one of each type at Thanos, let's look for a weakness! Don't get too close!"

"**Copy!"**

"**Shit, Thunderdrums don't work, Zipplebacks retreat!"**

"**Gronkles, fire everything at his head! Giving the signal for the Whispering Deaths!" **The retreating soldiers watch in awe as Fire rises to her feet on Eclipse's back, swinging her staff almost wildly in circles around her body.

"**Poison will take too long to have any affect! Shit, I'm out of arrows! Someone has to bring me more, he's focused on me!"** Fire cries out, and he watches as she and Eclipse desperately dodge around the projectiles.

"Hulk, grab his attention!" Nick orders from the other side of the command center.

"**Command, the dragons can't take much more! We have to pull back or we'll all be killed!"**

"Get out of there, someone try to help Fire!" Nick orders, uncaring about who he's yelling at, but he'll be damned if he allows Stark's daughter to be left behind.

"**Hulk has engaged, Fire is getting away!"**

"**Fire, down!"** Fury shouts, just before Fire's voice screams through the center's speakers. **"Fire and Hulk are down! She's sent Eclipse away! I can't get close to her!"**

"**Loki's engaging Thanos! Thor and Sif are on their way to extract Fire! Don't try to take him out, just distract him long enough for us to get a clear shot!"**

"**The hell?! The dragons just dumped us and are going back to the fight!"**

Tony watches the feed in dread as Fire rises and swings her strange staff around, calling all the dragons to herself. She slams one end into the ground, swirling in a pattern again and repeating over and over again as the dragons circle far above, when with one last swing, she slams the center of the staff into her palm to create an unheard rattling that sends the dragons into a dive, all gunning straight for Thanos.

"Loki, get Fire and get out of there! Now!" Tony orders the Norse deity.

Thanos glares at the girl across the field from him with hate, her armor having fallen apart on impact with the ground rather than caving in and trapping her, leaving her unprotected. He throws something over Loki's shoulder as the God sprints her way, just before the first of the dragon attacks pins him to the ground.

Fury isn't fast enough in getting to her, screaming wordlessly as she falls to her knees, clutching a spot on her neck with one hand and her ribs with the other. **"Fire!"**

"What happened?!" Tony shouts, fear flooding him as she falls into Fury's arms just before Loki gets to them. "Somebody talk to me!"

"**Heavy bleeding from two knife wounds, one to the neck and the other her ribs, possible lung puncture!"** Loki answers. **"Hulk, get her to the tents now!"**

"**Hulk is on his way, clear a path!"**

"**Medics on standby, blood prepared for transfusion."**

"**Emergency surgeon on standby."**

"**Hulk has arrived, patient is still conscious but unresponsive."**

"**Get a scan on these injuries now!"**

"**Lung intact, no fluid in her lung. Focus on the neck wound."**

"**Artery intact, one centimeter over she'd have already bled out."**

"**Injury is too close to artery, veins damaged, nerves are still responsive."**

"**Patient is stable, we need immediate airlift to the nearest hospital, get a team ready to operate."**

"**Patient en route to Houston, ETA forty minutes."**

"**Thanos is down, not responsive."**

"**Thor is approaching Thanos, permission to launch warhead through the portal?"**

Nick looks over to the devastated Stark, who's collapsed into a chair with his head in his hands. "Permission granted, deliver payload." Rockets scream through the air before vanishing into the portal. "Confirm detonation, then close the portal."

"**Delivery confirmed, warheads are through the portal."**

"**Detonation confirmed! Ships are destroyed!"**

"**Portal is closed, Tesseract is removed and stored. Black Widow and Hawkeye delivering to Command."**

"Delivery confirmed. Well done everyone." Nick takes the case holding the Tesseract, hoping everything was worth it, and that Thanos is dead.

Fury watches as Loki brings Eir and Frigga into the sterile hospital room, where a pale and comatose Fire lays oblivious to the world, bandages around her neck and ribs stained with blood. _"They've only slowed the bleeding,"_ he whispers hoarsely, fearfully.

Eir huffs, waving a glowing blue hand over Fire with a frown. "Well, I can see why she's still bleeding at all. Those blades must have had an anti-coagulant and a toxin of some sort in the polish. Of course, the mortals here wouldn't know what the compounds are, just that they are contaminants in the wounds." She digs around in her bag. "Your Little Fire here is fortunate that Odin has allowed for her to be treated with an extract of Iduna's apples."

Fury stares in awe at the golden liquid she fills a syringe with. _"I thought those were only for the Aesir… to grant immortality."_

"Generally, they are. But in certain cases as these where someone has garnered the favor of Odin and been mortally wounded… we have an extract that can heal without the immortality setting in," Frigga informs him, stepping up to his side and combing her fingers through his messy hair. "Oh, dear Fury. Little Fire will be with you for a long time to come. Perhaps, you will one day be granted a home on Asgard with your love."

Fury blushes, even as he feels her magic rejuvenate him and clean him up. _"She is too young for me to court yet, my Queen."_

She smiles at him. "There is still plenty of time for that. Only two more years before you can court, and I already know you were destined for one another, the moment you pulled her from the waters of Berk."

Fire spars almost playfully with Clint, who is far too happy to be fighting with a flaming blade. Natasha watches them in amusement, though Tony watches with deep-seated worry.

"I almost lost her just after I found her," he whispers, and she's almost certain she wasn't meant to hear it.

She looks at him with a genuine smile. "But you didn't Stark. She inherited your will."

"My brains and will to live," he huffs, chuckling darkly. "I never should've let her mother go."

"If you didn't, you wouldn't have your daughter." Natasha watches as her best friend defeats the fourteen-year-old, knocking her to the floor with his knife in a kill spot. But then she realizes she'd brought her own dagger into a kill spot of her own on his back – the blades are heavy enough that, were she to drop the blade in death, he wouldn't have a chance of moving away fast enough to survive. "If she does go down in a fight, she'll take her killer down with her."

"I don't like thinking that she inherited a connection to death because of my career."

"It's the Viking way Stark," she responds softly. "By the time they're adults… they're already warriors with a list of people they've killed."

Loki inspects the few belongings the two are taking with them with a critical eye. "You know where the portal is to this realm?" he asks, having assured himself the few clothes they are taking will be sufficient for their trips into villages when they begin to trade this year. Leather alone would put off anyone from welcoming them, and wouldn't be nearly warm enough for their upcoming winter. Their new blankets are another boon, ones he is sure they won't use very often thanks to the dragons, but he hopes they will use what they are given.

"Yes, two islands and a sail's height over the water at the shipwreck," Fire answers, rolling her eyes.

"Keep a dragon there in case I decide to visit without Heimdall's assistance my Little Fire," he orders her.

She smiles widely and hugs Loki. "Thank you, Loki," she whispers, before moving to hug Tony. "I'll send a Terror through the portal every once in a while. They'll find you easily enough… just remember not to smudge the charcoal or you'll have a hard time deciphering the runes."

Tony holds her tightly, acknowledging that he's probably not going to see his daughter again for a long time. "You take care of yourself kid, you hear me? I can't lose you."

She pulls away and stares up at him with knowing eyes. "I'll do my best Dad, but dragons are wild, and accidents happen. You be careful with your villains though, okay? No more Titans."

Fury shares a nod with Tony over her shoulder, a silent promise to take care of her in his place.

Fire smiles at the Winter Sanctuary, glad to be back with all of the dragons she brought to the modern world unharmed. Fury wraps his arms around her from behind and holds her tightly to himself. _**"We should send our spies to the Queen's nest when we return to Summer Isle."**_

"_**I'll remember to do that Fury. First thing when we get back,"**_ she promises in their preferred dragonese.

Eclipse and Pitch curl around them, sharing their warmth as they settle around the fire. _**"Tomorrow we go to Summer?"**_ Eclipse asks hopefully.

Fire scratches her chin and presses a kiss to her snout. _**"We're going to Summer tomorrow."**_

"_**Fire… I want to have something more to do than just hunt."**_ She turns around in his arms to look up into his eyes.

She sees the longing for something in his eyes. _**"You miss blacksmithing, don't you?"**_

"_**I do. I know I shouldn't, because I know the weapons I make will be used against dragons someday, but…"**_

She covers his mouth with a soft smile. _**"Blacksmithing is your passion Fury, your blades art meant for defense. If they use them against dragons, then they fail to see the true purpose of your gift."**_

"_**What will you do?"**_

Fire shrugs with a little smirk. _**"Maybe I'll work on animal skins, and some carving. Maybe bows or little trinkets?"**_

Pitch blows a puff of smoke into their faces. _**"Sleep hatchlings. The sun has just set, but we have to rise early to get to Summer Isle with enough time to send out the spies."**_

They row up to a painfully familiar island, almost painfully close to Summer Isle, and force themselves not to flee the instant they recognize Gobber. And they are glad the dragons ruined their clothes from the other era now, because they would recognize those nicer things as matching Fire's clothes from the day she washed up.

Gobber pulls them into the forge with Fishlegs.

"I's good ta know yer alrigh' kids," he murmurs, hugging Fury tightly and trying not to cry out of joy.

Fire offers Fishlegs a small, unsure smile that he returns brightly, glad to know his old friends somehow survived being carried off by a dragon. He's happy to ignore the untold how, or what they'd been doing for five years. He doesn't question the scar on her neck, or the way the two are careful to not call on the gods as they might have once upon a time.

_Dear Dad,_

_We arrived back on our main island, Summer Isle as we call it, a day after we left. I haven't written since we returned to our era because we've been a bit busy preparing to trade. Fury has taken up blacksmithing once more, as he's missed it since we were banished, and now he has Crusher – you remember him, the overly affectionate Gronkle that followed Natasha everywhere? – to help him keep the forge-cave hot. I can't wait until we trade enough to make him a real forge, that way we can actually live in the cave rather than use it for storage._

_I've taken up tanning and carving, though it was a little rough at first. I've gotten better over the past month with Fury's help, and I've only wasted a little bit of wood – which really just went into the fire to cook our fish, so I don't think it was truly wasted. _

_I thought I should let you know, but those clothes you insisted we bring back with us? The dragons didn't quite understand that those were ours, and thought they were toys for them to chew on. I don't think I need to say this, but they are all shredded wads of spit-soaked cloth. I can't salvage the clothes, so I've let the dragons use the remains for their hatchlings bedding and chew toys. I wish you could see the babies, they are adorable, but I think Loki might enjoy them – they get into everything and listen to nobody, getting up to all kinds of mischief. It doesn't help that they spit fire-balls every time they sneeze – the poor things send themselves flying if they sneeze hard enough!_

_I wanted to ask you something. What can you tell me about the way bees behave? I know that's rather strange, but something came up and we're trying to think of any connections in order to resolve our issue. It's not too important, so don't worry about it too much._

_How is everyone? I miss you Dad, and I actually miss Pepper's nagging at me to wear nicer things. Can you believe that? I never thought I'd miss someone ordering me to wear something I hate! Pass on our greetings, and try to keep Biter – the Terror – from nipping at Bruce's heels. He's gotten into that habit and I'm trying to train that annoying habit out of him. He needs to keep his teeth to himself before he poisons someone that isn't immune to his venom._

_Fire and Fury, Dragon Riders_

_Dear Dad,_

_Loki visited us on Winter Sanctuary last night, telling us something called the Convergence is going to happen sometime in the upcoming weeks, so you won't be hearing from us for a while. We're going to stay on the island in the home-cave as much as we can, just so we don't go tempting fate into sending us into alternate dimensions again. Maybe we'll find a new path leading closer to your Tower after its over, but Loki is going to come to us after its over to make sure the paths are safe for us to travel and that there won't be any surprises when we go flying._

_Please, be safe while this is happening._

_Also, do you remember what we told you about Berk? Gobber and Fishlegs in particular? Well, they figured out it was us pretty quickly under the masks, but nobody else did because those two seem to be the only ones with any amount of brains in the entire village. Anyway, I don't know how, but before the ice sets in at the end of the year, Gobber's convinced us to come help him keep his next batch of Dragon Training students alive in the ring. I can't figure out how he talked us into it, or maybe it was Fury and I just went along with it, but I guess we owe him a lot. He's kept our secrets and let Fury use the forge pretty regularly until we finish our own. It'll be well after the Convergence has ended, so don't worry about us getting lost or anything._

_I need to go, I've got some wild boar smoking right now – need to finish preparing for this winter before the snow arrives in the hunting grounds. It's not a problem, just an annoyance I'd rather not deal with, so I got the hunting done now so I can focus on stockpiling carvings for trading after winter. Also, I've sent extra Terrors this time since Fury and I made a few gifts for everyone. Biter isn't there this time because he's off doing something else right now for us. The ones we've sent you this time just love cuddling though, and don't particularly enjoy when their nap time is disturbed. We just call the whole clutch Cuddle Monsters – they really do respond to that, you should try calling them if you don't believe me. Word of warning though, you'll want to be laying down somewhere when you do that unless you've got mail. You should be able to get a response back before we ground the dragons._

_Be safe, and thank you for the rubber you sent – it's made the boots so much more comfortable for both of us!_

_Fire and Fury_


End file.
